Wideband arrayed waveguide grating

ABSTRACT

A flat-top arrayed waveguide grating with wideband transmission spectrum may be produced by integrating a series of directional couplers to the output slab waveguide coupler of a dual channel-spacing arrayed waveguide grating having Gaussian spectral profile. The primary channel spacing of the Gaussian arrayed waveguide grating determines the spectral width of the resultant wideband device, whereas the secondary channel spacing determines the wavelength separation between the adjacent output channels. In such a structure, a wideband or flat transmission spectral profile may be achieved without excessive losses.

BACKGROUND

This invention relates generally to optical filters that may be usefulfor multiplexing and demultiplexing optical signals in wavelengthdivision multiplexed communication networks.

In wavelength division multiplexed optical signals, a plurality ofdifferent optical signals, each having a different wavelength, may bemultiplexed over the same optical link. At intended destinations, one ormore of the wavelength signals may be separated using a demultiplexingtechnique.

An arrayed waveguide grating, also called a phased arrayed waveguide orphaser, works like a diffraction grating. It may be fabricated as aplanar structure including input and output waveguides, input and outputslab waveguides, and arrayed waveguides. The length of any arrayedwaveguide may differ from adjacent waveguides by a constant ΔL.

The input slab waveguide splits the wavelength channels among thearrayed waveguides. Each portion of the input light traveling throughthe arrayed waveguide includes all of the wavelengths that have enteredthe grating. Each wavelength in turn is individually phase shifted. As aresult of that phase shift and phase shifts at the input/output slabwaveguides, every portion of light at a given wavelength acquiresdifferent phase shifts. These portions may interfere at the output slabwaveguide, producing a set of maximum light intensities. The directionof each maximum intensity depends on its wavelengths. Thus, eachwavelength is directed to an individual output waveguide.

Commercially available arrayed waveguide gratings have Gaussiantransmission spectral transfer functions that are easy to manufacture.However, high speed applications usually involve flat or widebandprofiles. Currently, such flat spectral shapes may be achieved byintroducing a horn taper of various profiles, such as parabolic,exponential, sinc, Y-splitter, and the like, at the free propagationregion of the arrayed waveguide grating. However, this approach leadsundesirably to higher losses than conventional arrayed waveguidegratings and poses manufacturing challenges since horn tapers are verysensitive to fabrication tolerances.

Thus, there is a need for low loss, wideband or flat top arrayedwaveguide gratings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is top plan view of one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged plan view of a portion of the embodiment shown inFIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a calculated plot of transmission versus wavelength for theinput to the coupler 22 of FIG. 1 in one embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a calculated plot of transmission versus wavelength for theoutput from the coupler 22 shown in FIG. 1 in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 5 is a top plan view of a portion of an alternate embodiment inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to FIG. 1, a planar lightwave circuit 10 may include anarrayed waveguide grating. An input waveguide 12 is coupled to an inputslab waveguide 14 a. The output waveguides 24 are coupled to an outputslab waveguide 14 b through a directional coupler 22. A slab waveguide,also called a free propagation region, confines light in one dimension,usually the vertical dimension, and does not significantly confine thelight in another dimension, typically the horizontal dimension, such asthe plane of the circuit 10.

The directional coupler 22 is coupled to the output slab waveguide 14 bthrough the waveguides 18 and 20. In one embodiment, the directionalcoupler 22 may be approximately a 3-dB coupler. The waveguide array 16,connecting the slab waveguides 14 a and 14 b, may include a plurality ofwaveguides. The difference in length of the successive waveguides in thearray is ΔL.

The arrayed waveguide grating may be a dual channel spacing device withGaussian transmission spectral profile. Referring to FIG. 2, the dualchannel spacing device may consist of a primary channel spacing 26 (forexample that between the waveguides 18 a and 20 a) and a secondarychannel spacing 28 (that between the waveguides 18 a and 18 b). An arrayof directional couplers 22 are integrated with the arrayed waveguidegrating to achieve the desired transmission spectral profile. Thewaveguide separation between the adjacent channel pairs coupled to thesame couplers 22, i.e., the spacing between the waveguides 18 a and 20a, 18 b and 20 b, on the output slab waveguide 14 b, determines theoverall spectral width of the transmission profile of the arrayedwaveguide grating. This separation is chosen to be an appropriatefraction of the secondary channel spacing to achieve the desired balancebetween bandwidth, cross-talk, and insertion loss.

The phase difference between the optical beams entering the directionalcouplers 22 is controlled by choosing appropriate path length differencebetween the corresponding output waveguides 18 and 20 of the arrayedwaveguide grating. As a result, light exits from the intended outputwaveguide 24 of the directional coupler 22.

For example, in order to get a flat spectral shape, two successiveoutput waveguides 18 and 20 of the arrayed waveguide grating that areinput to the couplers 22, have a length difference equal toapproximately (2 m+1)λ_(c)/4n_(eff), where m is an integer, λ_(c) is theaverage center wavelength, and n_(eff) is the effective refractive indexof the two respective waveguides.

FIG. 3 shows a calculated plot of transmission versus wavelength. Thesignals A₁ and A₂, centered on approximately 1554 nanometers, in thiscase, correspond to the signals from the waveguides 18 a and 20 a.Similarly, the spectra B₁ and B₂ are the signals from the waveguides 18b and 20 b and, likewise, the signals C₁ and C₂ are the signals from thenext pair of output waveguides.

The primary channel spacing 26 between the signals A₁ and A₂ determinesthe width of the resulting signal, shown in FIG. 4, from the couplers22. That is, the signal A is the resultant of the signals A₁ and A₂.Thus, the spacing between the signals A₁ and A₂ determines the width ofthe signal A. Similarly, the signal B is the resultant of the signals B₁and B₂ by the coupler 22 b.

The secondary channel spacing 28, between the signal A and the signal B,is determined by the spacing between the waveguide 18 a and thewaveguide 18 b. This secondary channel spacing determines the wavelengthseparation between the adjacent output channels of the overallintegrated multiplexer/demultiplexer device.

Thus, in one embodiment, the first and second waveguides 18, 20 have aprimary channel spacing 26 that is about one-quarter the secondarychannel spacing between the first and third waveguides 18. In otherembodiments, different primary and secondary channel spacings may bedesirable, but in a variety of cases, it may be desirable to space theindividual waveguides 18, 20 of a pair by a smaller separation thansuccessive waveguides 18 are spaced from one another.

Referring to FIG. 4, calculated results from a representative device ofthe type shown in FIG. 1 are presented for the coupler 22 output. Thesecondary channel spacing 28 of the Gaussian arrayed waveguide gratingis 100 GHz in this example, whereas the primary spacing between thewaveguides 18 and 20, coupled to the coupler 22, is four times smaller,i.e., 25 GHz, in this example. As shown in FIG. 2, the ability to obtaina flat-top spectral shape of the arrayed waveguide grating by thetechnique described above is demonstrated. The simulated resultsindicate only about a 1-dB excess loss compared to the Gaussian arrayedwaveguide grating and approximately 40-dB cross-talk.

The engineering of the spectral shape of an arrayed waveguide gratingcan be implemented by monolithic or hybrid integration approaches. Thearrayed waveguide grating and directional coupler structures may befabricated on the same chip in the monolithic approach, while they arefabricated separately and later bonded together in the hybrid approach.

Referring to FIG. 5, in accordance with another embodiment of thepresent invention, the slab waveguides 15 b may be coupled to amulti-mode interference (MMI) coupler 34 in another embodiment of thepresent invention. In this embodiment, the MMI coupler 34 replaces thedirectional coupler 22. In this embodiment, the output waveguides 30 and32 need not be of different lengths. However, the primary and secondarychannel spacings may be as described previously in accordance with theembodiment shown in FIG. 2. As before, the coupler 34 may be coupled toan output waveguide 36.

While the present invention has been described with respect to a limitednumber of embodiments, those skilled in the art will appreciate numerousmodifications and variations therefrom. It is intended that the appendedclaims cover all such modifications and variations as fall within thetrue spirit and scope of this present invention.

1. A method comprising: forming an arrayed waveguide grating includingan output slab waveguide coupled to a pair of output waveguides coupledto a directional coupler.
 2. The method of claim 1, including coupling adirectional coupler to said output slab waveguide and coupling a pair offirst and second output waveguides between said output slab waveguideand directional coupler.
 3. The method of claim 2 including making theprimary channel spacing between paired first and second waveguidescoupled to the same coupler different than the secondary channel spacingbetween the first waveguides coupled to different but adjacent couplers.4. The method of claim 3 including making the secondary channel spacinggreater than the primary channel spacing.
 5. The method of claim 1,including forming the pairs of waveguides with a length difference ofapproximately (² m+1)λ_(c)/4n_(eff), where m is an integer, λ_(c) is theaverage center wavelength, and n_(eff) is the effective refractive indexof the waveguides.
 6. The method of claim 1 including forming saidgrating on a planar light circuit.
 7. The method of claim 1 includingcreating output signals having a flat spectral shape.
 8. An arrayedwaveguide grating comprising: an input and an output waveguide; awaveguide array; an output slab waveguide coupled to said array and saidoutput waveguides; and a directional coupler coupled to two outputwaveguides also coupled to said slab waveguide.
 9. The grating of claim8 wherein said output waveguides coupled to the same coupler have alength difference of approximately (2m+1)λ_(c)/4n_(eff), where m is aninteger, λ_(c) is the average center wavelength, and n_(eff) is theeffective refractive index of the two successive waveguides.
 10. Thegrating of claim 8 wherein said grating is formed on a planar lightcircuit.
 11. The grating of claim 8 wherein said grating creates outputsignals having a flat spectral shape.
 12. The grating of claim 8 whereinsaid grating is a multiplexer.
 13. The grating of claim 8 wherein saidgrating is a demultiplexer.
 14. The grating of claim 8 including adirectional coupler, which is coupled by a first and a second outputwaveguide to said output slab waveguide.
 15. The grating of claim 14wherein a primary channel spacing between output waveguides coupled tothe first directional coupler is less than a secondary channel spacingbetween a first output waveguide coupled to a first directional couplerand a first output waveguide coupled to a second directional coupler.16. The grating of claim 15 wherein the primary channel spacing is aboutone quarter of the secondary channel spacing.
 17. A method comprising:filtering a signal using an arrayed waveguide grating; and adjusting thespacing between successive waveguides to generate a flat spectral outputwave form.
 18. The method of claim 17 including forming an arrayedwaveguide grating having an output waveguide coupler coupled to a pairof output waveguides having a length difference of approximately (2m+1)λ_(c)/4n_(eff), where m is an integer, λ_(c) is the average centerwavelength, and n_(eff) is the effective refractive index of the twosuccessive waveguides.
 19. The method of claim 17 including forming thegrating on a planar light circuit.
 20. The method of claim 17 includingforming a demultiplexer.
 21. The method of claim 17 including forming amultiplexer.
 22. An optical filter comprising: an input and outputwaveguide coupler; and a waveguide pair coupled to said output waveguidecoupler, said waveguide pair having a length difference such that a flatspectral output signal is produced.
 23. The method of claim 22 includingforming said pair having a length difference of approximately (2m+1)λ_(c)/4n_(eff), where m is an integer, λ_(c) is the average centerwavelength, and n_(eff) is the effective refractive index of the twosuccessive waveguides.
 24. The filter of claim 23 wherein said filter isa demultiplexer.
 25. The filter of claim 23 wherein said filter is amultiplexer.
 26. The filter of claim 22 wherein said filter is formed asa planar light circuit.
 27. The filter of claim 22 including adirectional coupler coupled to said pair.
 28. The filter of claim 22including a plurality of waveguide pairs coupled to said outputwaveguide coupler.
 29. A method comprising: forming an arrayed waveguidegrating including an output slab waveguide coupled to a first and secondoutput waveguide coupled to a multi-mode interference coupler.
 30. Themethod of claim 29 including coupling a multi-mode interference couplerto said output slab waveguides and coupling the first and second outputwaveguides between said output slab waveguide and said multi-modeinterference coupler.
 31. The method of claim 30 including making theprimary channel spacing between the first and second waveguides coupledto the same coupler different than the secondary channel spacing betweenthe first and a third waveguide coupled to different but adjacentcouplers.
 32. The method of claim 31 including making the secondarychannel spacing greater than the primary channel spacing.
 33. An arrayedwaveguide grating comprising: a waveguide array; an output slabwaveguide coupled to said array; and a multi-mode interference couplercoupled to a first and a second output waveguide also coupled to saidslab waveguide.
 34. The grating of claim 33 including a pair ofmulti-mode interference couplers, one coupler coupled to the first andsecond output waveguides, a third and fourth output waveguides, theother coupler coupled to said third and fourth output waveguides. 35.The grating of claim 34 wherein a primary channel spacing between thefirst and second output waveguides is less than a secondary channelspacing between the first output waveguide and the third outputwaveguide.